The doner kebap originated in the Ottoman Empire. It started out as the cag kebab, stacks of seasoned sliced meat cooked on a horizontal rotisserie, which dates back to the 17th century.
Bursa, which is just south of Istanbul is thought to be the birthplace of the vertical rotisserie used for today’s modern doner kebap. Its believed that it was invented sometime in the 19th century by Iskender Efendi of Iskender kebap fame or possibly Hamdi Usta from Kastamonu.